OUT-OF-PRINT & RARITIES SELECTED BY LIZARDSON & FRIENDS

Saturday, October 13, 2007

by Manila #18

Richard & Linda Thompson "Rafferty's Folly" (bootleg)

This is the Gerry Rafferty produced version of 'Shoot Out The Lights' that never (quite) saw the light of day. An entire book has been written about this album ('Richard & Linda Thompson's Shoot Out the Lights' by Hayden Childs, part of the '33 1/3' series). I haven't read it yet so I don't know the full story. If, as I heard, Rafferty spent his own money on the venture, then it was a selfless gesture on his part for which he never seems to get any credit. (Though some sources say he was 'hired' to produce the album.) Whatever the case, though it lacks the edge of R&L's other work - and the Thompsons were unhappy with it - it is not the 'utter disaster' some would have you believe, just different. At least that's my view. You be the judge.

Since it was never officially released, I guess there is no official 'track listing' either. I haven't heard 'trigger' but a quick Google came up with most of the same tracks, just in a different order. I guess bootleggers do the same as the record companies - change things around a little so you think you're getting something new. Have they no decency? ;-)

"Before Joe..." and "Rafferty's..." have the same original "Shoot Out.." tracks (including a re-recording of "For Shame of Doing Wrong" and "The Wrong Heartbeat" which was re-recorded on "Hand of Kindness"), in the same order. They differ only in the so-called bonustracks.A websearch for both titles can confirm this folks, use your google ;-)They differ in sound quality too, "Before.." being the better one. Or so I'm told